AMD: Radeon HD refresh coming in 1H 2013

AMD confirmed yesterday that it would refresh its Radeon HD graphics cards in the first half of this year. On top of that, the chip designer also revealed that it's preparing new "Never Settle" free video game bundles for Q1 2013. AMD’s graphics solutions business showed mixed results in Q4 2012.

Graphics segment revenue was $326 million, down 5% sequentially and 15% year-over-year, mainly due to a decline in GPU unit volume shipments, partially offset by a seasonal increase in game console revenue and record revenue in workstation graphics. Graphics segment operating income was $22 million, up $4 million from the prior quarter primarily due to higher game console revenue.

At the same time, the company managed to increase unit shipments and revenue for its high-end AMD Radeon HD graphics cards in the channel, primarily due to the “Never Settle” promotion, which included free video games bundled with graphics cards in addition to a new driver that enabled higher performance of AMD’s graphics solutions.